In the media

Evening Standard: Can building design reduce air pollution? An architect explains

Planning, Housing and Urban Design4 January 2019

Dr Rosa Schiano-Phan, Principal Lecturer in Architecture and Environmental Design at the University of Westminster, was interviewed by the Evening Standard on how the way buildings are designed could have an effect on air pollution levels.

Dr Schiano-Phan said that the configuration of buildings could “potentially retain or aid concentration of air pollutants, while others allow them to disperse more easily.”

Her research, examining the role of vegetation in dispersing air pollutants, showed that incorporating plans into building design, as many new buildings have done, can help clean air in windy and airy places by enabling the pollution to pass through, trapping pollutants when arranged in a canopy-like design.

Concluding, she explained how important it is to design buildings which allow for adequate ventilation: “One of the biggest barriers in London is really the poor air quality, therefore with the PhD students, we are starting to apply some of the methodology of environmental design to improve this.”

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